


cheeky

by godtyun



Category: TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, One Shot, Starbucks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 18:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21165812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godtyun/pseuds/godtyun
Summary: In which Beomgyu is the barista at a coffee shop and always screws up Taehyun's name on purpose.





	cheeky

“Teahobble!”

Just as Taehyun is about to speak his first words to his date, that absolute M̴̰̖̹͚͖̑͐̂̈̌̈̈́̎͐͘̕͝ő̶̳̠̮́͌̈́͐̓̊̀͒̏̃͘͘̚Ṫ̶̳̎Ȟ̸̛͍̘̩̼̫̆͊̈̏͛̄͆̕͠͝͠E̶̜͖̼̳͎͂̀̊̏̕͝͝͠ŗ̸̛̬̞̻̘̞͕͔̹̜̟̍̋̇́̍̍̈́̓ͅF̸͓̣͔̥̠̥͖̟̻̙̥̙̓͗͐͛̓̎̊̏̌̅͒u̶͙̲͗̋̿͊̏͑̈́̚̕͝ͅc̸͍̄K̶̢͚̰̽͒̀̂̽̿͗͛͌̅͆̆̕͠E̷̡͕̰͚̳̳͈̓͌̔͑̋̅̂͋̔͑̾̚͝R̷̢͓̠̣̘̎ sings out the umpteenth rendition of his name. Taehyun grits his teeth.

No. He promised himself he wouldn’t get mad. He promised himself.

“Um…” His date reluctantly interrupts his meditation. Taehyun snaps his head up to find her gently pointing to the Starbucks counter. “Isn’t that yours?”

He wonders if the barista would stop messing up his name if he no longer acknowledged the ridiculous names he came up with.

“Teabag Hobak!” that sickening voice sings out again.

Nope. He wouldn’t. Taehyun sighs deeply, smiling tiredly at his date. “Yeah. Ha ha.” The laugh is clearly forced and sad. Rather than facing her any further, he grudgingly gets up, marching over to the drink counter where the motherfucker smiles at him with Taehyun’s drink in his hand. “Here you go,” he offers, smiling sweetly as he leans on the counter, sliding the drink to Taehyun without breaking eye contact.

“Thank. You,” Taehyun mutters, his pride on the floor as he takes the drink. The bleach-blonde barista just sticks his tongue out and winks before returning to work. Taehyun’s nose scrunches as his blood boils.

And yet, just as he’s done every day for the past three weeks, he walks away without confrontation, pointedly trying to fill his brain with the girl his sister has set up for him.

Obviously he should just go to a different coffee shop, a different Starbucks, or even the _same_ Starbucks at a _different_ time, but that motherfucking beach-blonde barista is the only one in a 10km radius who can make Taehyun’s drink perfectly every single time. So like a druggie in need of his fix, he shows up on cue every day after school at 3pm to get his overpriced $5 coffee made by Satan incarnate.

* * *

The next day is Friday, and Taehyun has had enough of that motherfucker for the week. After suffering two name blows yesterday, he’ll take a subpar drink for just one day of peace. So he shows up at Starbucks before school at 6am, but the place is empty.

He hears some things moving around in the back, so he calls out a nervous “Hello?”

“Oh! I’ll be right with you!”

Taehyun’s eyes blow wide. _No. No way._ But there in the kitchen window, like a horror film, he sees that shock of dyed blonde hair moving toward him. He immediately turns foot to flee but runs right into a column and keels over, holding his eye as he groans.

And then that door swings open, revealing the motherfucker. As soon as Taehyun looks up to make eye contact with him, something extraordinary happens. Shock passes through that kid’s expression. But it quickly dissipates, and he walks up to the register with his regular swagger. “You hit the column while trying to run?” he guesses, smiling that sweet smile.

Taehyun huffs, standing his ground. “Shouldn’t you be getting off work or something?”

The barista smirks. “Why? You wanna take me out on a date, Turtlehuck?”

It’s too early in the morning for Taehyun to get mad, so he simply releases his eye and approaches the register with a resigned expression. “I mean, don’t you have school soon?”

The blonde looks down. “Your regular, I presume?”

_He wants to drop the topic. Whatever._ “Yeah.”

This time, Taehyun sits at the bar, watching the barista work on his drink. One day he’d like to be able to make it himself, but every time he tries at home, it ends in failure. So he admires the way that the motherfucker smoothly handles the equipment, practically dancing around his work station as he makes coffee with the most natural expression. Taehyun’s never seen him this close before. He looks...

_...pretty._

The thought comes to him not for the first time, but he swallows down the thought— swallows down how despite having fried hair, the kid owns some very pretty features— swallows down the veins that pool down the kid’s forearms as he works in concentration.

“If I knew you thought I was this handsome, I would’ve charged you for staring.”

Taehyun breaks from his haze to find the barista approaching him with his finished drink. The blonde holds the drink up, inspecting the name carefully. Taehyun doesn’t even have a retort, but he anticipates the barista’s next move. “What’ll it be today?” he asks. “Taco Hell? Technological Hosiery? Toe Horse?”

It must take the blonde off-guard, because the kid just stares back with an open mouth.

“What?” Taehyun grumbles, now feeling shy.

The barista seems to snap out of it. Then, instead of rebutting, he holds out his hand. “It’s about time you knew my name, too. Since we see each other so often.”

Taehyun reluctantly takes his hand.

“Choi Beomgyu. ‘01 liner.” He breaks into a wide grin, winking at a dumbstruck Taehyun before setting his drink down.

“Korean?” Taehyun whispers despite himself. His eyes go wide.

“Yup,” Beomgyu hums, shaking his hand mockingly. In Korean, he continues. “You must be younger than me, then,” he laughs, releasing Taehyun’s limp hand to pet his hair. “Hyung will treat you well.” And then he walks back to the kitchen, throwing open the door easily.

But, of course, he delivers his final blow just before exiting. “태국 현대인!” _Modern Thai person!_

Taehyun doesn’t know how long he stands there, but he gets to school 10 minutes late and forgets to drink his coffee until 3rd period.

_He’s Korean. He knows my name. He knows how to say my name._ “He _knows_ how to say my name,” he hisses, freaking out an unassuming lab partner. “Sorry,” he mumbles, sinking back onto his stool.

When the final bell of the day rings, Taehyun is bolting out of class, sprinting down the halls and out of school. “Choi Beomgyu!” he yells, the anger inside of him boiling. It occurs to him that he must look like an insane villain from an action movie, but he can’t be bothered as he cuts corners, jaywalking like crazy to make it to—

Starbucks.

Taehyun shoves the door open, panting and sweating like never before. He huffs, ignoring the few stares he gets from the local freelance workers. “Yeah, keep on looking,” he mutters, his eyes hunting down the workstation.

Choi Beomgyu floats around the station, maneuvering with a co-worker as he fills orders.

Like a man possessed, Taehyun marches directly over, slapping his hands down on the counter. “Hey,” he calls out, the Korean immediately attracting Beomgyu’s attention.

The blonde briefly looks him up and down. “You look like hell,” he responds in their language, sliding two drinks to the right of Taehyun. “Karen! Jedediah!”

Taehyun’s eyes widen incredulously. The customers in question retrieve their drinks, shooting Taehyun a dirty look for blocking the counter. As soon as they leave: “You. Come out. Now.”

Beomgyu gasps an octave higher with a twinkle in his eye. “What gave me away?”

Taehyun hisses through his teeth: “You have two minutes.” Taehyun doesn’t think he’ll ever look this cool in his life again, so he owns his split-second confidence and strolls out without looking back.

He sits down at the plaza across from Starbucks, his backpack taking its own chair as he broods with his arms crossed. But as the minutes pass, his confidence wavers. He's never called someone out before. He tries to prepare via his mental rolodex of dramas and graphic novels, but it suddenly occurs to him that characters only ever call out other characters to beat them up or confess to them. He isn’t sure if he pales or blushes. Beomgyu. Could he take Beomgyu in a fight? _He’s about my height, right?_ Taehyun muses, nervously zipping his backpack back and forth two centimeters.

He catches something in his peripheral and looks up to see none other than Choi Beomgyu walking toward him in his street clothes and with a backpack of his own swinging from one hand. Taehyun’s mouth goes dry at the sight. _Shit._ Beomgyu should be a model. _No—_ he thinks, his eyes falling on Beomgyu’s thighs— _an athlete._ Suddenly a fight doesn’t sound so favorable. Taehyun bumps his own bony knees together.

“Okay,” Beomgyu says, dropping his backpack down on the chair to Taehyun’s left while sitting down in the one across, his hands in his pockets. “I’m here.”

Taehyun clears his throat. “Wh— You aren’t going back to work?”

Beomgyu looks to the side with just his eyes, then looks back with a slight cock of his head. “Clocked out.”

_Whoa._ Taehyun sits up, trying to remain a worthy opponent. “Why are you bullying me?” Point blank attack. _Good job, Hyunnie._

“Because I like you.” Point blank. Checkmate.

_Wait._

Taehyun’s brain short-circuits as his jaw falls open. Well that, he… didn’t expect. He… he doesn’t know what he expected. Maybe 10 minutes of terse conversation ending in some kind of compromise that would leave them in a lifelong stalemate? Not—

Certainly not this.

“I— what?” he asks, like an idiot.

Right. Of _course._ Beomgyu _always_ makes edgy jokes to tease him. He’ll amend like he always does. He’ll wink and stick out his tongue and call Taehyun a ridiculous name just to make him uncomfortable. That’s his M.O. Beomgyu is always trying to make him uncomfortable.

“Because I like you,” Beomgyu repeats, his pronunciation crystal clear. “I like you. I want to date you. You know, like humans do?”

The slight joke at the end has Taehyun scoffing without humor. “I— I’m confused. You…” He points at Beomgyu. “want to date… me.” He points to himself, his index finger curling weakly.

Beomgyu rolls his eyes, taking a hand out of his pocket to scratch his head. “Should I write it in blood?” he mutters. “You want me to pinch you or something?”

Taehyun snaps out of it. “Wait, no—! What kind of crazy person waits to confess until he gets called outside to fight?”

Beomgyu furrows his brows. “We were gonna fight?”

“We—! We might have,” Taehyun falters, his brain not working. “Thighs,” he mumbles, remembering.

“Thighs?” Beomgyu repeats.

“No! No, no, no. I—” Taehyun rubs his face, trying to return feeling to his absolutely useless brain. “You… why do you like me?”

Beomgyu stops to think about it. That scares Taehyun more. “No, no, I don’t want to hear it,” he quickly decides. “No, that’s crazy.”

“You won’t date me then?” Beomgyu asks carefully, maintaining eye contact.

_What on Earth is going on?_

“Obviously not,” Taehyun chokes out. That’s the right answer, right? “Of course I won’t date you. You’ve only bullied me. I don’t… I don’t know anything about you. Yeah, I won’t date you.” He stops blabbering to meet Beomgyu’s eyes, whose unflinching gaze leave him feeling bare.

And then, like a breeze, Beomgyu shrugs. “Okay.” And he gets up.

_Okay?_ Taehyun stares up at Beomgyu, his mind 100% mush.

“Your reasons are fair. I won’t make you try to like me or anything.” He shows off a peace sign and picks up his backpack. “See you tomorrow.”

And then he’s gone. Taehyun sits there, rendered speechless by Beomgyu for the umpteenth time.

_What. on. Earth. is. going. on?_

**Author's Note:**

> i totally didn't pull this prompt from https://otp-prompts-generator.neocities.org/


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